Motorcycle Monday: Why Are Motorcycle Fatalities On The Rise?

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Let’s dive into what’s really going on here and what you can do about it…

I’ve been aware of the rise in fatal motorcycle crashes over the past few years. However, I’ve also found too many over-simplify the issue out of intellectual laziness or the desire to reinforce a preconceived notion, sometimes both. It’s a complicated issue with a lot of factors driving it, something I’ve been wanting to dig into for some time.

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According to data from ValuePenguin, which is an insurance carrier so interpret that how you want, fatal motorcycle crashes were up 11% from 2019 to 2020. From many reports all over the US, it seems that upward tick is continuing into 2022.

That ValuePenguin study says for fatal crashes between 2016 and 2020 speeding was involved. Right away, my suspicions spike because the study was looking at a crash increase between 2019 and 2020. When a study starts slicing data differently for different points, it’s usually because using the same time period for everything doesn’t support a narrative being carefully constructed. In fact, that’s what’s going on, because if you dig into the study, data shows year-over-year drops in fatal crashes from 2016 to 2019.

That’s not to say speeding doesn’t contribute to fatalities – after all, Newton’s First Law comes into play there. But to blame this entire problem on speeding would be lazy, even though plenty of people do just that. This is why digging deeper is necessary.

Last year a report out of Milwaukee noted motorcyclist deaths rose 37% from 2019 to 2020. A spokesman from the Wisconsin State Patrol Department of Transportation was interviewed, and he attributed part of that phenomena to “people were getting so pent up and cooped up they wanted to express their freedom somehow.” Sadly, for some that means simply ignoring the rules of the road and others on it.

A member of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation board recently stated that aggressive driving and riding certainly is a factor in the uptick of fatal crashes, saying he’s “never seen anything like this.” He continued, “I don’t know the reasoning for it, aggressive driving that’s putting other people’s safety at risk.”

Some riders using mostly empty roads as their personal racetrack wasn’t just a problem in North America. A report from the BBC highlighted police frustration in Wales as motorcyclists pushed the envelope to work out their cabin fever from shutdowns, resulting in some bad crashes.

Coming back to the ValuePenguin study, it points out the fact that motorcycle sales surged during government lockdowns in 2020 and 2021. Sadly, because of the panic over covid, in-person outdoor motorcycle safety courses weren’t as plentiful. The result has been many riders on the road without the necessary skills to ride safely. That point is backed up by Las Vegas motorcycle dealership owners in a 2021 report. They’ve seen many people who have never ridden before getting their first motorcycle, hitting the road without understanding how to do so safely, so they started offering free safety classes.